The Forrest City times., 1887-10-22
DESERTED AT WATERLOO.
yictorfa's Pardon Extended To an
 O1d soldier in Rhode Island.

Old soldier in Rhode Island.
 Seventy two years ago. says letter from Providence. R L, Robert 1lrren committed a crime against his reigniug sovereign. King George the Third Of England. Three days ego Tirrel. now 93 years old, received royal pardon fer his oiTense from thc hands of his offended monarch's granddaughter Queen Victoria. and now, after an absence of nearly three-auarters of century, he is about to re- turn to bis native land that he may die among hls kin and again see the places he knew be- fore compelled to go Into exile.
 ' fifrslfs crime was one that the present generation regard very lightly He was a soldier In the Buffs, one of King Georges regiments, which had just returned from the United States, where it had participated is the war of 1Slg TIrrell, at the age of 2O' enlisted in this battalion few days after us return to England, and was ordered to pro ceed with 1t to Belgium, some tweptg-ioer mouths later, where Napoleon was playing DIS last stake for empire He was simple eounI try lad, and had been inveigled into enlist
 mout by cunning recruiting sergeant who had made him drunk and then slipped the klng's elilliug Into hls pocket, thus enabling him to drag the rustic of to the wars In U
 1 spite of his entreates. Tirrell admits that he was great eowara'
 and tba. glory had no attractions for him ! He wss fin such mortal fear of Bonaparte,
 whom he had been taught to look upon as | anti Christ that the troops were revisWeu py 1 the rrines ferent. Previous to their depast- | ure for France be stepped from the ranks as be. who was afterward George the Fourth, | rode done the line, and begged to be allowed 1 to 0o home. The prince called him poltroon and passed on i Being in Gen. Plctou's division and eneapmed
 on the banks of the River Nivelles, Tirrelii on ] tbs 18th Of June 1915. planned with A com | rade 10 escape the impending battle by | desertnr. This comrade was also an ablee' ! coward and trembled at the prospect of en- ! counterlng the conpueror of Europe, but being detected he was unable 10 Set beyond the i lines, and on the l4th, the eve Of the great l battle Of Watefloo, hls fear was so great that | he deliberately severed the hamstrlng Of his l left leg, thus crlppllng himself for lie. lie
 was taken to the medical quarters, and Water | loo was fought and won without his presence. During the one hundred days occupation of Paris thi. miserable coward was tried by
  dukc of Wellington did not approve she pro
 coedings, when submitted to him. He thought the honorable form of death from the muskets of soldiers was too good for the coward The 1 sentence was therefore changed, and the con denued was sentenced to have the hamstring of the other leg severed, and to be kept pris- oner at Fort Pitt, Chatham, for the rest of his ife Furthermore, than on every anniversary of Waterloo he was to be taken from bis bed and fooged with cat-o -nine tails, one hundred -shcs per annum.
 In the meantime Tirrefl had better luck.
 He succeeded in crossing the Niyel-
 les. and the HeYt day fell into the
 hands of Marshal Ney5 dragons, who
 first sabered him and then questioned
 him Having learned the cause of his dfsery
 ton they had no use for him and he was allowed to take himself off with terrible gash in his shoulder He finally succeeded in reaching Hayre, where he secured place aboard an American ship, and came to this country In Richmond, Va, he married, reared large family, and is now a great-greai
 grandfather.
 Seventy years have been added 10 tho march of time since the night when Private Trrelps terror of Bonapsrte caused him to sever lis connection with the house Of Han over. The king whose eolors he desersed
 has been mouldcring in his mausolaum nearly three score years and ten; the regent who called him coward has reigBed and been dust mOrs than half century. sn, too, that great ogre, Napoleon BOnaparie, Of whom he stood in more dreaI than the devil. A third mon arch of England cane and went the way oi ell men aud another has si on The throne Of England half hundred yrar,, and vet
 Robert Iirrell has ltrl aad noarished, but dared not set foot on British soal
 That he might have done so with perfect safety any time during the ast fifty years
 ,y.. 54-, d hTf world
 no chances When he lived in England there was more than two huudred Otfenses for which the prescribed punishment was death, and assertion was one oI them. f.uorles ana car -cr0ppirg were still fashionable. IyourD tree b0ssouieJ every Monday morning with strnuqled law breakers, and it was penal ser yltude 10 damn the royal family in tue hear ing of two or inoFe persons. All things con -ldered, Tirrell thought it prudent not to ! leave American soil. Had nis oifense been | committed few years before lSlo be could | have obtained pardon in very snort time, as 1 hls king. at hs jubilee celebration, extended ! the safns elemencv to deseTters as queen ' lc- | raria DOW extends to commemorate the nitieth | year of her reign.
 These pardons are only granted at jnbilees,
 and as there had been but three royal Iubilees
 aluong the monarchs of England from the . time of Cesar 1irrclfs chances were slim. 4 In June last We read in tue papers about the royal proclamation, anl. having obtained a { copy Of it he wrote to the Horse guards for 1 the pardon youclsafed him. It Is stated that { when lis sreat-greatgrandsOu sat down to ad- 1 dress the letter st tre old mans dictation tue 1 latter told him to send 10 :he duke Of Yelling l ton, whOm for the moment, he thought to ba
 stll at the head of the British army. The lad l told him the Iron Duke had been in his grave | near forty yeais. and then the letter was ad- l dressed 10 the colonel of the "Bufl-, who, | no doubt forwarded it 10 the Horse guards. The search among The ancient archives of | Waterloo must have given the War-ofiice. ! clerks pile of trouble. for the answer did | not arrive till Wednesday last It was mol much G. 9 document to come from the hand I of an Empress-s plain piece ot printed paper, | containing all the cuttness of such eorrcspon- | deuce IL merely states fn a mutter-Of fact | way, that Private Tirrell, who alsented him | sell from his regiment without leave on Junq | H. 1915, is hy this royal decree exempt from | further military service, and iron the pains l and penalties of hts oneuse. There IS q war l office stamp affixed, and Private Tiuell is in- | formed that should he be recognized and aT- | rested as a deserter he must produce this
 asrtfcate or apply for duplicate
 l Recognized At the present time there is not man n the British army who was born ! when he quit the ranks The unsentmenta ! officials took no more notice Of Tirrell than fl | be had deserted but yesterday, and those whG ! know them well assert that were a man to ask l for a pardon lu the name of one who skedad'
 died during the reign of Elizabeth, the dun ! derhesds would send the same printed form il
 they discovered tue name on the rolls of tba
 age.
 Tlrrel was born in Okehampton, Devon
 shire, and tonight he begins bis journey | homeward, sailing from New York next week | He has had the queens pardon scwel in thS
 lining of his vest bu' does not expect to suffei
 any temporary inconyenienees from reeogI> l ton.
 A singular thing about this old man is that 1 in his old age he became positively valiant l During the late war, when he was q man ol ! 70, he wanted tO be enrolled for fighting
 against the Invading union armies. At on,
 time he shouldered a musket and helped {,
 defend house which had been besieged by
 some Of Gen Banks soldiers. In this affail ! he exhibited great bravery and wanted tO lead
 party tO attack the soldiers from without A
 soon as he made the acquaintance of eourag, ! he began 10 cultivate it, now, at the age of 93
 be is quite a cumulative old boy.
 Rev. MT. Eastwood, an Episcopaliar
 minister at Pawiucket, was formerly
 chaplain in Chatham, one Of the Iarg,
 garrisons of England, and he well remember,
 the hamstruug wretch who was confined il